


The Time You Have Wasted for Your Rose

by antigrav_vector



Category: Captain America (MCU), Iron Man (MCU), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, First Meetings, First Time, Getting Together, M/M, Multi, OT6, POV Multiple, Sex Toys, Smut, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Vibrators, canon compliant through Avengers 1, offscreen Virginia "Pepper" Potts/James "Rhodey" Rhodes, then goes au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-05-27 11:50:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15023969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antigrav_vector/pseuds/antigrav_vector
Summary: Things don't always go smoothly the first time you try them. Especially not if you're an Avenger. They often don't the second time, either.Theme: First times and starting over





	1. Appearances (first meetings)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the MCU Rolling Remix 2018.
> 
> “It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”  
> ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

The portal that opened up in his lab was unexpected. The person that fell through it moreso.

Tony stood, armed himself with one of his gauntlet repulsors, and stared warily as the figure groaned. When the familiar-looking stranger pushed herself to her feet and looked around, her face twisted. "I suppose I'm not in Kansas anymore," she said wryly, and sighed. "Where is it that I've landed, pray tell?" 

If the lady's facial features -- straight out of one of his dad's photo albums or film reels -- weren't telling enough, Tony decided, the crisp British accent was very convincing. "New York City," he answered carefully, watching her warily. "Who are you exactly?"

She gave him a slightly wary look. "You look like Howard," she said, confirming his suspicions, "but you don't know me. Something's gone badly wrong."

"That doesn't answer the question," Tony retorted, but he lowered his hand.

"Agent Carter, SSR," she told him, with a roll of her eyes. "And you are?"

"Tony Stark," he shrugged. "Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. And more recently, Iron Man."

Peggy sniffed at him. "Right, well. I don't suppose you know how to get me home, then, do you, genius?"

"Not without knowing how you got here," he told her. "J, did you get any useful readings?"

"I did not, sir," his AI replied, making Peggy jump. "The opening of that portal caused most instrumentation to go offline, due to electromagnetic interference patterns. The only record I have of its existence is on the cameras placed farthest from its position."

Tony groaned. "Figures. Sorry, Agent Carter. Unless you can tell me precisely what sent you here and how it works, I'm afraid you're stuck here."

Judging by the pinched look on her face, she didn't.

After a few tense seconds, she said, "I suppose I'll just have to make the best of it, then. Can you put me in contact with Howard?"

Tony did his best to hide his wince, but suspected she saw it anyway. "That's also a no-go. Dad's dead. He wrapped himself and his car around a tree when I was 17. Took mom with him."

Peggy winced. "I see. I'm sorry to hear that."

It was high time to change the subject. "Anyway. I think I know someone else better than my dad you can talk to."

"Oh?" Peggy raised an eloquent -- and very disbelieving eyebrow at him. "Something tells me I'm not going to like this."

Tony only smirked at her and led the way our of his labs to the small foyer that held his private elevator. He was going to _enjoy_ this. "This way. I'm taking you to meet the team. Or at least, two of them in particular. J, you know what to do. Page the relevant people to the common floor. I want this to be a surprise."

"Of course, sir. But might I suggest letting them know what to expect?" JARVIS suggested carefully.

"I'm definitely not going to like this," Peggy sighed, but she gamely followed him into the elevator.

There was no way he'd ever have imagined his first meeting with Peggy Carter would go like this. He'd never imagined he'd get to meet her at all. His dad had only ever told him about how amazing a dame she'd been until she'd vanished without a trace one day.

Now, it appeared, he might have a chance to get to know her, for himself.

Assuming she was the real thing.

Steve and Bucky needed to confirm that for him. His lovers had actually known her, back when, and first-hand accounts were always best for this kind of thing. The pair of them would be able to pick out any subtle mistakes in her persona, if there were any. If it was indeed a ruse.

Tony didn't think it was. The vintage clothing, the way she styled her hair... even the perfume she wore, which reminded him of his mother with a pang. All of it added up to the real thing. Or an _extremely_ detailed fake. It was very difficult to get ones hands on the right perfumes of that era. He'd know. He'd actually gone looking on a whim one afternoon, thinking he might do something nice for Steve.

The elevator car slowed, braking him back out of his thoughts and he glanced over at Peggy. "Ready or not, here we are."

The car stopped with a ping and the doors slid open.


	2. Keeping up (second tries)

Being summoned to the common floor by JARVIS for an unspecified reason had been a bit out of the ordinary, but not so much that it had set off any alarm bells. Tony was known to be a bit eccentric, and had a habit of assuming you could keep up with him, once he'd accepted you.

Arriving there just in time to watch the elevator doors open, though. That had been a shock. Steve had had to grab for Bucky's shoulder to stay on his feet.

"Peggy?"

Tony had simply stood back and watched, amused, as she'd launched herself at him. Steve had seen that much. He hadn't had time for anything else, then, though. Peggy was in his arms, then, clinging to him like he was a life preserver and she was caught in a storm at sea. The way she shook, too, was a bit worrying, but it was all he could do to process that she was even here.

After a few long seconds, she pulled back with a sniffle. "Steve, I-- is it really you?"

"I was gonna ask you that," he replied, not letting go.

Bucky stepped up to them, carefully staying a more or less respectful distance away. "How'd you get here, Agent Carter?"

"I... well, it's a long story. Suffice to say I got careless and my target pushed me through some strange gash in the air, and then I was here." Peggy reached up to put her hands on his jaw, carefully, like he was made of glass and would shatter. "How did you boys get here? I thought you were dead, Barnes, and Steve as well."

Bucky rubbed at the back of his neck before he responded, "It wasn't pretty. For either of us. Th'serum saved us both from dying. Steve ended up frozen into an ice cube. HYDRA turned me into their pet assassin and kept me in cryo for most of that time."

Steve had to wonder at the fact that Bucky managed to state it so plainly and openly. It was still something of a sore spot for all of them, given what it represented. And the trust inherent in that statement was more than a little bit mind-blowing, as Tony would have put it. The thought reminded him that Tony was in the room, and he risked a glance at his lover. There had been a reason why Tony had summoned them, and it wasn't just because Peggy had appeared out of thin air, but Tony wasn't talking. The mere fact that he was quiet and focused -- no, observing -- was a big red flag, but Steve had learned better than to leap before he knew _why_ Tony was being so cautious.

Peggy looked horrified. "And now?" she asked, more than a little bit of strain in her usually calm voice.

"We're getting better," Steve told her, daring to reach up and gently draw his thumb across her cheekbone.

Peggy took a shuddering breath, her eyes closing, then she stepped back just far enough to make Steve let go and turned to Tony. "Well, genius?" she demanded. "Now what?"

Tony shrugged. "What do you want to do? Would you rather stay here in the Tower or dare to venture into the wide world of the future? Frankly, staying here would probably be the better choice, but I won't stand in your way if you want to leave. Just keep in mind that you don't exist, right now. Legally you're dead, just like Steve and Bucky were when we got them back."

"And what does coming back from the dead require?" Peggy asked, sardonically, some of her usual calm focus returning.

Tony started ticking points off on his fingers. "A driver's license; a bank account; some idea of what social media is; a cell phone; an apartment; an identity... all kinds of things. JARVIS and I have some experience with that, thanks to Bucky's Lazarus moment. SHIELD handled Steve's. Rebirth is kind of a theme, when it comes to this team."

Peggy's lips quirked. "All of that seems surmountable. Set it in motion," she said decisively. "And when you remember what manners are, I expect you to introduce me to this Jarvis fellow who's helping you over the radio. After all, this far in the future it can't possibly be the Jarvis that I knew."

Tony shrugged and gave her a mocking little bow. "As you wish. I'll be in the workshop finishing up some things; if anyone needs me, have JARVIS let me know," he said, pointedly not introducing the AI, then disappeared back into the elevator.

Bucky rolled his eyes at the closed elevator doors. "JARVIS is a thinking computer that Tony built. He's as much a person as you or me."

Peggy's eyes went wide. "Ah. My apologies, Jarvis."

"Quite alright," the AI replied, sounding like he was smiling.

Steve had yet to work out how he did that.

"Now, Steven," Peggy purred, her voice dropping a few registers lower, "I believe we have some unfinished business."

Caught off guard, Steve simply stared at her for a moment. "We do?"

"You promised me a dance. Given the circumstances, I'll forgive the lack of reservations at the Stork Club."

Bucky laughed, and turned to disappear into one of the two media rooms on the floor. "Remember to wrap it, if you decide to go all the way," he called over his shoulder.

As the sounds of Bucky's favourite cartoon started playing, Steve felt his face heat, and groaned. "Bucky!"

Peggy sniggered at him. "Come on, Steve, show me a good time."

"I--" Steve hesitated for a beat, feeling oddly like this would be cheating on the others, for all that they'd repeatedly discussed exactly what it meant for most of the team to be in an open relationship with one another. "Alright," he gave in, accepting that he wanted this, wanted Peggy. "Let's go to my floor, then. This calls for a little more privacy."

One thing was for sure. He hadn't ever expected his first time with Peggy would be some seventy years after their first kiss.


	3. Slightly Buzzed (first times)

When she'd landed in the future, face first, Peggy had come face-to-face with someone she'd never met, but resembled an old friend. She'd been foolish enough to think that would be the extent of the shocks she'd get that day.

But no, then Tony had all but handed her her dearest wish on a silver platter.

That had been when she'd thought she'd somehow fallen asleep and dreamt up something crazy. After all there was no way Steve could have survived that crash. Howard had searched feverishly, a man obsessed, but they'd all known.

But they'd all been wrong, it appeared, and she would regret that until the end of her days. She'd been the one to tell Colonel Phillips she had faith in Steve, but somewhere along the line she'd lost it. Common sense and regulations or not, she should have known better than to give up on Steve.

It had all come pouring out when Steve had wrapped her up carefully in his arms and led her through a waltz, music quietly playing from the speakers above their heads thanks to Jarvis. She'd broken down, sobbing like her heart was fit to break, the moment the dance was over, ruining her makeup and startling the daylights out of Steve.

"Peg?" He sounded very worried, but she couldn't seem to do more than shake her head. "Are you alright? I didn't step on your feet, did I?"

The weak joke, echoes of the past, only made her wrap her arms tightly around his waist again. "I lost you," she managed in between sobs, her breath shuddering and wheezing in and out of her. "And I mourned."

She felt the wince that went through him, full-body. "I didn't have much choice," he said carefully. "It was crash the plane, or let most of North America get wiped off the map."

"Howard searched."

"Yeah, I know. Tony told me." A broad callused hand started rubbing careful calming circles over her upper back. "And I also know just how lucky I got. The only things that kept me alive were that the plane didn't break up on impact, and the bombs didn't go off when the fuselage hit the ice."

The reality of it seemed to sizzle through her, and she didn't care to resist. Tipping her face up, not caring that her mascara had run, she pulled Steve down into a kiss. The move got a startled squeak out of him, which she summarily ignored in favor of trying to get him riled up for just what Barnes had been so blatantly suggesting. When they broke apart, Steve stared at her in a sort of dazed wonder.

Peggy didn't bother waiting to catch her breath. "Take me to bed, Steve, or so help me, I'll--"

Steve cut her words off with another kiss, smiling. "You'll nothing," he said, just as smart as she'd remembered, and his hands drifted boldly up her sides to toy with the button at the throat of her blouse. "Yes?"

Peggy growled at him and shoved.

Since he was willing to be moved, he stumbled backward a step, laughing now. "Okay okay," he said, "message received, loud and clear. Bedroom's this way."

They hastily stripped their clothes off, both of them suddenly too eager to bother with slowly unwrapping one another, and then Steve was tumbling her onto his bed with its sinfully soft blankets. She stretched, enjoying the feeling of the high quality cotton against her skin and the warmth of Steve's muscle. "Well, Captain," she murmured, "Barnes implied you know how this works."

Steve blushed bright red again, and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well, uh, yeah. But there are a couple of other things I think you might like, too."

Peggy wasn't entirely certain how she felt about the fact that someone else had been teaching her sweet Steve about sex. But on the other hand, he was here in bed with her, and wanting. Wanting her, and wanting to show her what he'd learned. She decided she could sort through those possessive jealous feelings later, and nodded. "What did you have in mind?"

"How do you feel about toys?" he asked, the question a bit incongruous.

"I assume you're not referring to, I don't know, stuffed animals and blocks or anything odd like that," she asked him, fairly certain he was referring to some sort of sexual paraphernalia.

"No, nothing like that," he replied, raising an eyebrow at her. "But if that's something you'd like, I'm sure I can come up with something."

Peggy stopped in her tracks and stared at him. Steve shrugged. "It's a brave new world, here in the future. You can learn all sorts of things from the internet."

"I believe _that_ is a matter to be discussed later," she retorted, tone arch. "Get to the point."

Steve leaned over to pull open his nightstand and rummage in the top drawer for a few seconds. What he came up with, Peggy eyed it, looked a bit like it belonged on a V2 rocket stand. Technological, certainly, and looking like it would be more at home in flight than on the bed, but so futuristic she couldn't quite pin down what it was.

"And, are you going to tell me what that gizmo of yours is for?" she asked him pointedly.

Steve smirked, then picked it up and twisted at its base, making it hum, then offered it to her. "This is what it's for," he said simply.

When she reached out and took it, she nearly dropped it. The vibrations running through her hand and up her wrist felt like they might rattle her apart at first. Experimentally, she twisted at it like Steve had, and found a few other settings, including one she liked better. "So," she waved it at him, "did you intend for me to use this on you, or the other way around?"

He grinned at her, boyish and hopeful. "Both?"

She couldn't help smiling back, knowing it held an edge sharp enough to cut. "Alright, come here, then."

If her first tumble with Steve also meant her first experiment with modern sex toys, so be it. She was good at improvising.


	4. Café Crème (first introductions)

Natasha was very glad Tony had filled her in. Stumbling across a stranger making tea at 5 am in the common floor kitchen might have been very awkward, otherwise. As it was, it was still a somewhat startling experience.

Well, Natasha corrected herself. Making tea was overstating the case, it appeared. There was hot water, but the stranger in their kitchen seemed to be doing nothing but rummaging around through Bruce's selection of teas without picking one.

Normally, no one else was awake this early. Steve and Bucky were usually not awake until 0530, at the earliest, and even Tony was generally in bed by now.

"Good morning," she greeted Agent Carter neutrally.

Carter turned to look at her, poised and calm, and smiled. "Good morning," she replied in kind, her accent impeccable. "You wouldn't happen to know if there's any breakfast tea available, would you?"

Natasha thought about it. "I don't think so," she said carefully. "Only Bruce drinks tea, and generally nothing black."

"Damn," Agent Carter swore, "well, I suppose something else will have to do for now."

"Do you take coffee," Natasha offered, "or would you rather try one of Bruce's teas?"

"Coffee, then, if you'd be so kind," she requested. "I'm not familiar with how this machine works."

"Milk? Sugar?"

Natasha moved over to the counter the coffee machine stood on, smiling slightly as she remembered how Steve and Bucky had also both stumbled over the tech in the Tower, at first. They'd adapted, though, and fast. She had no doubt Agent Carter would, as well.

"Milk, no sugar," came the reply, and Carter watched carefully over Natasha's shoulder as she pushed buttons and turned knobs to set the machine into motion.

Tony's fancy machine had options for other things too, and not just simple coffee, so Natasha pulled out two mugs as it warmed up and placed them under the spouts. "I don't think we've been introduced," she said after a few silent seconds.

Agent Carter gave her a knowing smile. "Call me Peggy," she said, "I generally only get addressed by my title at work, and that is rather a distant memory at the moment."

"I am Natasha," she offered, "when I am not working."

"Pleasure." Peggy leaned her hip against the counter, casually.

Natasha could tell that she was still perfectly balanced and ready to respond, if needed. If some threat appeared. She wondered what Peggy would be like with her guard down. Whether that ever happened.

The coffee machine gurgled and stopped running, distracting her from that train of thought. Taking the mug of coffee, she held it out to Peggy. "Shall we sit at the bar?"

"Why not," Peggy agreed. "What is it you do around here?"

Natasha considered the question. "As an Avenger? As Tony's PA? As a part-time agent of SHIELD?"

"Any and all of the above," Peggy replied, with a hint of a smile in her eyes. "I'm familiar with the restrictions that come with playing many parts at one time, as well as having some of them be classified top secret."

Deciding she liked Peggy, she answered a trifle more candidly than she would have most people. Tony had vetted her, and she'd clearly passed Steve's test seeing as she'd spent the night with him by all accounts. Bucky hadn't noticed anything off about her either. "A little bit of everything," she said, picking her words carefully. "As an Avenger, I'm part of a small response team not unlike the Howling Commandos Steve led when you first knew him. As Tony's PA, I deal with a lot of logistics and scheduling, mostly, and Tony himself. Nothing about the job is straightforward or easy, but it's not boring."

She left out her duties for SHIELD, and knew Peggy had seen that immediately by the way she smiled. "I see."

"And you?" Natasha inquired. "What is it you do?"

"Well," Peggy replied easily, "considering that it's been seventy years since I did any of it, and I have no idea how much has been declassified, if any, I doubt any of what I did is relevant. As to what I can do... I'm a decent shot, though nowhere near as good as Barnes, and quite good at code-breaking as well as corporate and counterespionage."

Natasha smiled. She was fairly sure Peggy would make a hell of an addition to their team, should she stay. "That sounds a lot like my own résumé," she said, picking carefully at her nails and then taking a sip of her mocha, "but I can't talk about any of it."

"So you work closely with Tony," Peggy asked her, "what's he like?"

The question threw her for a moment, but Natasha had always been good at recovering quickly. "The first four or five layers you find are all façades," she replied, her tone turning thoughtful. "He hides behind masks, so don't let him fool you. Underneath is a kind caring man who would die for his friends. And we would fight to the death for him, too."

Peggy's expression went startled, then serious. "Understood. You have nothing to fear from me. I have no intention of trying to take him from you."

Natasha let her lips quirk upward. Peggy's answer had rung honest and true. "You might be surprised at what you find," she told Peggy, then took her mug and set it in the sink. "There is far more to this than me and Tony."

Peggy said nothing, and Natasha knew she hadn't cottoned on. That was okay, she would learn. The team's open relationship wasn't going to be secret for long. Not the way Tony went around kissing and touching all of them anytime he could get away with it. So did Bucky, now that he was comfortable enough to be willing to be demonstrative.

Peggy was sharp. Natasha had no doubt it would take her less than a day to pin one of them down and interrogate them about what which of them was to whom.

She'd probably pick Steve.

Natasha made a note to make sure she was a fly on the wall for _that_ entertaining conversation.


	5. Taking the Piss (starting over)

When the penny finally dropped much later that afternoon, Peggy turned to Steve and dragged him out of the media room and into the common floor kitchen by his ear, getting a pained yelp for her troubles as he stumbled along after her.

Everyone else present had either stared after them or laughed.

"What the bloody hell is going on here, Steve?" she hissed at him, releasing his ear.

He straightened, rubbing at it. "I didn't get a chance to tell you?"

Pinching at the bridge of her nose, Peggy sighed. "I suppose not. We did have other priorities at the time. Well, out with it, then."

Natasha leaned against the doorframe, and put in, "Peggy, this will be easier to explain with everyone present."

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me in the least," she grumbled. Steve always had had a talent for getting himself into the most spectacular trouble, and it seemed that hadn't changed a whit.

He put a careful hand on hers, and said, "If it bothers you, we can talk it over."

His tone and expression made it abundantly clear that whatever this was, he didn't want to give it up, but he would, if she asked.

Perversely, that made her want to do it, but she knew better than to make life-altering decisions before she had all the facts. "First, tell me what is going on. Exactly."

"Come on back out here, Carter," Barton called out from his position on the sofa, where he was seated next to Barnes, who was sprawled contentedly under Tony. "Natasha wasn't kidding when she said it'd be easier that way."

Giving Steve another dark look, she nodded. "Go on, then. And this had best be good."

"I sure think it is," he muttered, not quite under his breath.

If accepting this was what it took for her to have Steve and have him be happy, she would at least consider it. Knowing what he was like, she doubted he would have accepted being a part of anything too sordid. And if they truly all were sharing, as had been very heavily implied, well, that might be fun to experiment with. But anyone taking the piss would have to face off with her, and she intended to ensure they knew that.

Steve was worth every bit of pain that came with starting over in an unknown future.


End file.
